Malaysia’s Gavin Green has moved into the top 50 of the European Tour’s 2019 Race to Dubai rankings following his T9 finish in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open yesterday. The 25-year-old is in 50th place in the season-long points race, which offers a lucrative bonus pool to the top five finishers.
Green is on course to make it into the elite fields for the tour’s three lucrative season-ending events, culminating in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates this November 21-24 . The Rolex Series event features the top 50 players in the Race to Dubai rankings competing for a total purse of US$8 million, with the winner pocketing a cool US$3 million – the biggest prize in golf.
The DP World Tour Championship is preceded by two other Rolex Series events – the US$7 million Turkish Airlines Open and the US$ 7.5 million Nedbank Golf Challenge presented by Gary Player. The Turkish event will feature the top 70 players from the Race To Dubai rankings, which is cut down to top 60 players for the Nedbank tournament in South Africa.
Green narrowly missed out on qualifying for next week’s 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush. The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open was an Open Qualifying Series event, with three Open places on offer to the leading players not otherwise qualified. The three spots went to Bernd Wiesberger, Robert Rock and Paul Waring. Waring grabbed the final spot with a birdie on the last hole, which moved him up into T7 place on 12-under-par, just one shot ahead of Green.
Green carded rounds of 66, 72, 65 and 66 to finish on 11-under-par at Lahinch Golf Club, five shots behind winner Jon Rahm. The Malaysian No 1 birdied four of the last five holes on Sunday to earn a cheque for €116,814.
This week’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club is also an Open Qualifying Series event, with three Royal Portrush starts on offer. Green is in the field and will thus have one last chance to secure his second start in golf’s oldest Major.
